The invention relates to stabilized projectiles, and more particularly to such projectiles wherein a rotatably mounted ring assembly carried in an annular groove of the projectile jacket for reducing the spin ordinarily imparted to the projectile as the jacket thereof moves through the barrel of the firing weapon in contact with the barrel walls.
In known arrangements of this type, an accurately dimensioned, one-piece ring is initially placed within an annular groove of one of two separable halves of the projectile jacket, with the ring being supported for relative rotation in the associated groove. After the ring is so placed, the other projectile jacket half is assembled to the first half, so that the ring is effectively captured within the projectile during its flight. The outer periphery of the ring extends beyond the walls of the associated jacket halves to contact the inner wall of the barrel of the firing weapon during discharge, thereby to effect the desired twist-reducing function.
A disadvantage of such known arrangement is that the ring, being captured between the two mating halves of the projectile during the entire flight thereof to the target, forms part of the dead load of the projectile. In addition, the portion of the ring projecting past the wall of the jacket halves during flight significantly increases the air resistance. In addition, the necessity of providing a projectile made of two cooperating jacket halves for receiving the stabilizing ring results in a complex and expensive assembly.